Knowledge Management

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Knowledge management is about obtain knowledge from those who have it to those who need it in order to improve organizational effectiveness (Armstrong, 2012).

Explicit knowledge Vs Tacit knowledge

Source: YouTube (Rosa, 2019)



There are two types of knowledge management strategies
  1. Codification strategy - Knowledge is carefully codified and stored in databases, where it can be accessed and used easily by anyone in the company (Morten et al., 1999)
  2. Personalization strategy - knowledge is closely tied to the person who developed it and is shared mainly through direct person-to-person contacts (Morten et al., 1999).
Knowledge Management at Toyota

Every organization struggling to share tacit knowledge in an organization. For this Toyota using a Job Instruction (JI) document and today Toyota using hundreds of JI documents to make a single car. JI was invented during World War II and it describes how a task should be carried out to meet the quality requirements, and at the same time achieve safety and efficiency. JI contained 3 elements.

  • Important steps – the sequential order of steps to complete a task
  • Key points – any extra information regarding how to save time, or avoid mistakes
  • Reasons – the line of reasoning behind the key points, such as what the result of errors would be  (Fung, 2017). 

Example of a JI
Source: Linked In (Fung, 2017)


For a new factory, Toyota rigorously promotes knowledge transfer. The company sends 200- 300 new employees to work in an existing factory. There, they work side by side with the more experienced employees and study the production system. After initial training on the job, the newcomers are transferred back to the new factory. They are working with one-two hundred highly experienced employees who work closely with them and ensure that Toyota’s finely-tuned production system is implanted into the new site (Heath, 2020).


Knowledge Management at Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT)

Sri Lanka Telecom (2020) states that SLT is the first Certified knowledge management company in Sri Lanka by KM Pro. Training and development of employees have also been identified as a key strategic objective of the facility, and a high degree of importance has been given to knowledge sharing among workers. Thus, regular knowledge sharing sessions are a norm within the facility, where employees who have undergone training are given the opportunity to share what they learned with others in the facility.
 Furthermore, the SLT also facilitates e-learning for workers through the intranet, enabling them to be continuously up-to-date and knowledgeable in their relevant jobs. SLT encourages the active participation of all employees in facility decision making by providing open channels through which to share their ideas for continuous improvement of the company. SLT also has implemented the Knowledge Circle (KC) concept for problem-solving to resolve identified issues.

 Knowledge is crucial to the interest of the business and may lose if it remains locked up in the employees’ mind and taken elsewhere by them if they leave the organization. in this scenario knowledge management play a vital role and as describe above organization able to share knowledge among all relevant employees in the organization in order to achieve employees’’ and employer’s goals.

References

Armstrong, M., 2012. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. 12 ed. New Delhi: Kogan Page.

Fung, D. P., 2017. LinkedIn. [Online]
Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/job-instruction-how-toyota-uses-knowledge-management-staff-fung/
[Accessed 5 6 2020].

Heath, C., 2020. Document360. [Online]
Available at: https://document360.io/blog/5-real-life-examples-of-knowledge-management-success-you-can-learn-from/
[Accessed 5 6 2020].

Morten T. Hansen, N. N. a. T. J. T., 1999. Harvard Business Review Home. [Online]
Available at: https://hbr.org/1999/03/whats-your-strategy-for-managing-knowledge#:~:text=Knowledge%20is%20carefully%20codified%20and,person%2Dto%2Dperson%20contacts.
[Accessed 5 6 2020].

Rosa, F. D. l., 2019. YouTube. [Online]
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPAQzVid42Y
[Accessed 6 5 2020].

SLT, 2020. Sri Lanka Telecom. [Online]
Available at: https://www.slt.lk/en/content/slt-has-been-recognized-first-kmpro-certified-knowledge-management-organization-sri-lanka
[Accessed 6 6 2020].



Comments

  1. Ruwan WeerasundaraJune 6, 2020 at 6:16 PM

    Nicely written article.
    Author has clearly explained the concept " Knowledge Management" by providing global examples and practical experience.

    While agreeing with the author, I would like to share some Essential Knowledge Management tools with you.

    * Content Repository
    * Knowledge Search
    * Communication Tool.
    * Social Software.
    * Knowledge Visualization.
    * Decision Support.
    * Big Data.

    If the company could utilize the above knowledge Management tools even up to some extend, It will help the company to maintain a high quality Knowledge Management system.

    ReplyDelete

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